Participation at March for Life ‘explodes’ myths, says marcher

WASHINGTON — Byzantine Catholics from the Eparchy of Parma and their bishop were amid the sea of marchers at the 46th National March for Life in Washington Jan. 18.

Among them was a small contingent from Ohio, led by Dr. Susan A. Gallagher of St. Mary Parish in Marblehead.

“Our time was short. Still, we decided that it was of paramount importance as Byzantine Ruthenian Catholics to march in Washington on behalf of the unborn children,” she said.

She remarked on the large cross-section of society at the march.

“We marched with the very young in strollers with their families. We marched with the not-so-young with their rollator walkers. We marched with the elderly, as well as the handicapped in their wheelchairs. We marched with…African Americans, Hispanics, Asians and Indians, exploding the myth that the march is a ‘white people’s march,’” she said. “We marched with people of other faith traditions, Lutheran, Methodists, as well as … Orthodox, exploding the myth that the march is a ‘Catholic march.’ We even marched with the Democrats for Life, exploding the myth that the march is a ‘Republican march.’”

Dr. Gallagher said the crowd was so large, estimated at more than 100,000, that the 1.5-mile march up Constitution Avenue, from the Mall to the Supreme Court building, took more than two hours.

On the steps of the Supreme Court building, they heard “the gut-wrenching stories of women who regretted their abortions,” said Dr. Gallagher.

Patty Kelly, Dr. Gallagher’s sister, said her participation at the march was personal.

“It is a way to promote life and a way to say thank you for our precious son Patrick who we adopted in 2012. We are so grateful Patrick’s birth mom chose life and chose our family to love and parent him,” she said.

Kelly remarked on the “positive energy” of the march, the “peaceful hum of the rosary being recited” as they walked, and the “contagious” enthusiasm of the teens.

“It’s always a great experience to go, with the crowd of people all together and expressing the same beliefs as you,” said Joseph P. Loya, who, at 18, attended his fifth march with his aunt, Dr. Gallagher, this year. His sister Emily Loya, 13, also joined them. Joseph said the march offers the chance to meet people from across the country.

“I met a person who was from South Dakota,” Joseph said. “It was his first march and he recently became Byzantine Catholic.”

Joseph said the march also impacts his faith life.

“I always come back … closer to God and pray for the unborn or for people who are considering having an abortion to change their mind to life,” he said.

Emily said she “enjoyed the diversity” and was surprised by the large turnout.

“Compared with other years, this march was the biggest and longest one yet,” she said, having attended three marches.

“We marched around pro-choice protesters. However, the march peacefully went on. The crowd ignored the hate plastered on posters and being yelled from loudspeakers,” she said.

Three nuns of Christ the Bridegroom Monastery in Burton, Ohio, also joined the marchers.

“The overwhelming number of young people and their enthusiasm instilled greater hope that ‘abortion on demand’ will be overturned,” said Mother Theodora Strohmeyer, the monastery’s hegoumena. “I pray that we will celebrate that victory in my lifetime.”

At the end of the march, the nuns joined a number of other marchers to pray the Akathist to the Theotokos in front of the Supreme Court building with Bishop Milan Lach, SJ, of Parma.

Anna Hicks, a parishioner of St. Luke Parish in Sugar Creek, Missouri, and her father we among those to pray the Akathist.

Hicks said it was important for her to travel the distance to attend her fifth march “because the ongoing genocide of unborn humans in this country needs to recognized and protested at a national level.”

She said the number of marchers and their positive attitude “always blows me away.”
“Even if it can seem untrue in our daily lives, there really are many people who hold a pro-life view on the reality of abortion,” she said.